Environmentalists are predictably filled with dread. A spokesperson from Greenpeace's nuclear team says the very idea of these ships is "bonkers" and like placing "Chernobyl on the Titanic". The history of Russian nuclear submarines has seen at least 100 accidents, varying from leakages to detonations, they point out.

The Russians anticipated such scepticism and dispatched Mikhail Zalikhanov, a member of the state's ecology committee, to reassure the world. "The floating NPPs have five radiation protection barriers and can withstand an earthquake seven to eight points on the Richter scale, 100mph winds and a falling Jak-40 jet," he said.

Actually, the ships will have two 35 MW reactors, not a single 70 MW reactor. Russia already has several nuclear powered icebreakers. Constructing such ships wouldn't be a stretch.

While there will be an obvious need for security, it wouldn't take that much to discourage or thwart would be pirates and the ships would presumably be docked in relatively civilized locations that welcomed the power, so the threat of hostile acts should be minimal.

everyone seems so scared about this idea, but think of the benefits, if ever there is a tsunami or massive earthquaqe or typhoon that destroys the infrastructure of a city around that area, a movable power station would be ideal for giving power to survivors and rescue operations. these are not weapons ships. and personally i think the potential benefits outweigh the risks. and it's not asif they are floating coal powered power stations!

Everybody is looking at this as if it's a new idea. Both the Russians and the USA have had Nuclear powered vessels since the cold war, all of Americas aircraft carriers are nuclear powered, some of Russias ice breakers are as well. And the majority of submarines used by both also have nuclear reactors on board. This is a safe and thoroughly tested idea.

This concern about hi-jacking seems a little uneducated. Its not like its a floating bomb with an ignition switch or even a "fertilizer" truck. If operators believed it to be in danger they could shut it down. Maybe with borated water or control rods. Either way at that point its just metal in a can. American Nuclear Submarines provide the same capacity but at about 5 times the size. No one has EVER hi-jacked a submarine for the simple reason that there is no reason to.

Terrorist attacks are attempts at being heard by people who run out of actual arguments. Hijacking or demolishing a nuclear submarine would get them 15 min fame and the illusion of importance and THAT is the only reason they need.

there was me thinking that submarines didn't get hijacked because they were underwater...

Anyway, take one big floating power station, flood the outer hull (not that anyone knows diddly squat about the design or operating principle, but since when did that stop an opinionated comment?) and rig a bunch of old tyres around it to keep a boat away. Nothing conventional is going to damage that. Or stick it in behind a berm, or whatever.

If it was an economically bad idea, there would be no incentive for Russia to build them. If it was a technically inferior idea, you'd think Russia would pursue the better ideas instead. Unlike the RMBK reactor type (Chernobyl), pressurized water reactors have an excellent safety record and release no CO2. But if you want to talk about unsafe, a floating gas-fired turbine with a LNG tanker in tow to fuel it strikes me as patently scary.

I have never been an advocate of Nuclear Power anywhere, and my belief the power solutions for this planet will be eventually have to be solved by efficient design and minimal power usage, as opposed to efficient power generation thus enabling unrestrained usage. No to Nuclear, same goes for the floating variety.

Not everybody is scared of this idea (obviously), it's just that the scared ones whine more. For some immensely stupid reason, they think that everybody else is an idiot and the world requires them personally to oversee the safety of everything because obviously nobody else is capable of thinking of safety concerns, especially not people who actually hold advanced degrees in the specific subject matter. GO PLANT A TREE, CLEAN UP A PARK, INSTALL SOME SOLAR PANELS, DO SOMETHING! QUIT WHINING! You are NOT a part of the solution until you DO SOMETHING!

as far as i can tell, this seems to be safer than a normal nuclear power plant, as i could be moved, and would be harder to acsess(?). and putting a gas turbine on a ship is just increasing the danger, as well as overooking the whole point that nuclear energy is sustainable (with fast breder reactors) and more compact than an lng tanker could ever hope to be.

Why leave it to the Russians -- if you are serious about protecting the environment this is the ideal made in USA idea

We've been operating naval nuclear power reactors (Pressurized Water Reactors with natural convective cooling (PWR)) for more than 50 years with no mishaps (due to reactor problems) and no injuries to the crew or public

We should immediately being the process of licensing a line of commercialized naval-style PWR's that can be mass produced in a factory on a river, Great Lake or sea cost and delivered to their permanent on-shore installation via water

The reactor core would be sealed with a 20 year fuel supply and the entire module would be removed and replaced -- no refueling on site and no handling of radioactive materials

Since these are relatively small (100 MW) they can be easily integrated into the existing electric power grid and actually improve the resiliency of the grid in the process

As a side benefit -- at night they can provide power to a near-by desalination and hydrogen plant for potable drinking water and personal vehicular fuel

Not only can we supply US needs -- we can start selling these around the world for cash in a turn-key fashion

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